Hot Coffee and an Old Pub
by ForbiddenDeity
Summary: From the Voidswap AU designed by tumblr user gasterfile! Voidby finally makes it back to his timeline, and things are... not what he expects. Especially between him and his old friend Pubster. [Pretty much porn with plot tbh I love this ship too much and I'm trash. Hey, if you like my writing, come check out my rping at vacuuxingis where i play Voidby!]
1. Chapter 1

It was with a surprising lack of usual grace that the elemental was spat out of the dark. He landed face first into snow with a yelp of shock. There was no coalescing of dark energy, no almost explosion snapping back into a condensed ball. Simply like a claw raked open the sky and he fell through, from nothingness to gravity that plopped him without dignity onto the ground.

It was, by far, the most graceless and embarrassing exit he had ever done. Snow hissed and steamed as the red elemental planted hands next to his shoulders, lifting his torso off the snow. A gust of wind spat more powder into his face, making the flame being jerk back fast into sitting on his ass in the snow, sputtering and swiping the white substance away with growled curses.

Snowdin. He was in Snowdin? Why was he in Snowdin?

More importantly, why was he lying in front of his friend's pub, and _why was it empty?_

The elemental pushed himself to his feet, flicked snow off his clothes, and stepped up to the door. Locked, unsurprisingly, Gaster would never leave it unlocked… but where was he? It seemed that _no one_ was in the town, it was all… quiet. He couldn't smell dust, but the monster's chest squeezed slightly anyway, fearing the worst had happened to his timeline _and he hadn't been here to stop it._

A sharp twist of his arm, and the lock broke, letting him walk in. Wherever Pub was, he would not be happy about that, but Grillby could deal with that later. If there was a later. Stepping inside, the elemental looked around, flicking his fingers at the small gas lamps that sat on the walls and provided the illumination for the main area of the pub. There was electric in the pub, but Gaster had always liked the ambiance of gas and fire magic lights.

The flames flickered to life, casting warm shadows over the dark wooded place, though the area around himself remained dim. He was use to that, it wasn't strange anymore. Even before his fall, he had never produced much light, as a tar fire elemental.

What was strange was that the bar, aside from being perfectly empty, was cleaned up as if Gaster had just closed for the night. But there was a fine layer of natural dust on everything, even the bottles along the back shelf behind the bar. His shoes clicked lightly along the wooden floor, echoing hollowly in the building.

It felt… Not _dead_ , but… _waiting_.

How long had it been? Where was everyone?


	2. Chapter 2

The elemental paced the pub, searching for any sign of monster dust, dreading it but needing to know what type of line he was in exactly.

It was too quiet, he found himself gripping the edge of the bar tight enough to rake claws into the polished wood, desperate for something, anything in the way of outside stimulation, some confirmation he was truly there and this was not a trick of the Void or his own mind. The sound of nails on wood, a glass breaking when he knocked it off the shelf in his slowly, increasingly clumsy movements, the sharp click of his hard shoe heels against the floor. Something, anything at all. The pub seemed to swallow up the sounds, they refused to echo back at him, and that bothered him much, much more than it should. The bands around his chest tightened like the coils of a snake, made it harder to breath.

The jukebox. The elemental's eyes went over to it. There was not much in the way of music on it that still worked, it was an incredibly old machine, except for swing. Gaster had liked swing, he liked fast paced music and was certainly large enough for some of the more extravagant moves even on larger monsters. Many a time had Grillby been a faintly unwilling partner who was dragged out as a way to get his mind off his work. Claws clicked lightly against the glass panel on the front, the bright pupils in the otherwise dark sockets scanning over the selection of music inside.

The curl of a claw dragged over the glass, and picked at a button. The machine remained dark, his distorted reflection shining back at the monster and showing a dark shadow, a shade trapped in the past. A heavy sigh left between his molten teeth. He remembered when his friend first got this thing, he had been so excited to have music in his pub. There was a way to force it to turn on and play without paying the G to do so. It was still plugged in after all. How did it go again…? Kick with the heel into the bottom right corner, thump the top like a ketchup bottle, grab the front and a hard shake.

…

Huh it actually worked. The sound of music filled the air, something quiet. Grillby didn't even care what played, just that something broke the silence. It did the trick, so it was ok. Even if it just put emphasis on the emptiness of the pub. Sound was sound, he wanted it and now he had it. Back to the bar Grillby went, and behind it, choosing a bottle at random, and picking up a glass before sitting at a stool in the center of the bar. He was here, it was as real as it felt, as far as he knew.

Grillby could cheers to that.

Least he was out of the dark and snow in here, as much as he didn't like being alone in the darkened place.

The strange feeling that woke him up plucked at the monster's very being, the only reason his shoes now crunched the untouched, icy path of Snowdin. It pulled him forward, urged him onward. He couldn't take shortcuts as easily as his son, so he simply went to Waterfall and walked from there. The monster paced slowly through the snow, long legs making swift work of the drifts before him. The cold ran right through his clothes, stealing what warmth had been left in his clothes. Bones rattled with a shiver, and there was a slow rumble of annoyance. Still, the skeleton trekked onward.

His old pub came into sight. The snow before the door had been disturbed, and the door was barely cracked open. For a moment, the monster stopped, eyes narrowing at the door. Who had come down here to break into his old pub? There wasn't anything important in it, and all the good things he had kept had come with him when he left. It wasn't like his was the only place to have alcohol anyway, there were much easier places to get it now…

Again the monster walked forward, pushing the door open fully, a long white bone appearing in his free hand. It was cracked and old, clearly having not seen use in some time. It would have to do. The bell on top of the door rang merrily into the empty pub, and the monster sitting at the bar lifted their head at the sound and went still, aside from the snapping of flames on their head.

Music filtered thinly through the air, and the monster sitting at the bar stirred first, tossing back what remained in his glass. The flames flickered blue for a moment as the alcohol caught fire in his mouth, but it faded a moment after. A soft clink as the glass was set against the polished bar, and the monster pushed himself to stand.

"He͜ll͜o͝,̨ ͡friend҉.͜ ͟S͘or̢r̷ỳ àbóut ̛th̶è ́locķ.̢ ̸I didn͟'̕t ͢ęx̶pećt͜ an͝yo҉ne͝ ̛to b̛e here̷."

The monster's voice sounded… odd. Over the crackling and popping of flames, like the sound of a distant forest fire, as all elementals held, there was a sound like heavy static, wavering like a wind but always there. It sounded as if it echoed through his chest before it left his mouth. Watching him, listening to him, the skeleton monster got an odd feeling. Did he… know this monster?

" **... So you thought to break into here and drink?"**

Came the reply, a soft tilt of his head indicating curiosity despite his tone being chilly and unamused. The other's chuckle rumbled with that odd tone that made it seem it was rattling in his head for far too long. Glass turning slowly in his hands, the elemental didn't turn as he heard the larger skeleton step closer, the footfalls clicking against the wooden floor steadily.

"̨I͘ was ͟n͞ot̨ ͟a̢w̷are̡ of̛ w͜hat t̴i͝m͜e͢ ͞t̢hi͞s̷ ma͟y b̷e͏.̀..̸ N҉ever̴ ̶o͏ccu̸rr̕e̕d ̧to̵ ̀me ͘i͟t̵ ̀ma̧y b͞ȩ Pa̸cif͏is̡t̕..̵."͡

He said, as if validating his actions. The elemental didn't flinch as the skeleton put a large hand on his shoulder and spun him around on the stool. Bright irises looked up from under a quirked brow, narrow framed, cracked glasses perched on the bump of a nose otherwise invisible. Molten teeth bared in a grin that seemed almost sad, showing nothing but shadows in the back of his mouth, and a lava like tongue.

A blink of surprise, and the skeleton pulled his hand back, looking down at the face that he hadn't seen in ages felt far too familiar. The elemental said nothing, his eyes firmly fixed to the taller monster's face.

" **... Grillby?"**

"͝W͘ȩ ha̶ve̵ ̛a ̶lot̛ ̸t͢o͞ t͡alk ͠a͞bóut, ҉G͘ąst́er̛.̷.. ͠Sǫrr͝y͝ ͘I wa̕s҉ g̸oné ̡f͟or͢ so̶ l͘o̶ng.͜"


End file.
